Apple CEO apologises for iOS maps, suggests iPhone users try Bing

It’s not easy sitting at the top of the tree, because when you get it wrong, everyone notices and jumps on you – as Apple found out with the disastrous release of their recent maps app.

It was supposed to be the latest, market-conquering app from Apple, to coincide with the release of iOS6, for iPad, iPod and iPhone.

Yet the new map app had some serious glitches, such as losing whole towns, misplacing buildings (in the middle of rivers and seas), and jumbling up data such as store locations, opening hours and such to provide an unusable product.

Apple CEO Tim Cook penned an open letter to all Apple customers to apologise for Maps’ problems, saying he was “extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.”

He even went as far as to urge Apple customers to use products by Apple’s competitors in the meantime while the problems are rectified.

“While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.”

The glitches arose as Apple had to build their own maps from the ground up so that they could incorporate their own features.

However, this was not done successfully, resulting in a release that not only failed to offer that which its competitors had mastered, but also to even provide the most basic, reliable functions.